Foreign media has released its list of "Top 10 Best Chinese Architectural Projects in 2025"—what are your thoughts?

Views:26 Author:Site Editor Publish Time:2026-01-20 09:42:48 Orgin:Site

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Recently, Dezeen, a renowned international architecture and design media outlet, announced the 2025 Top 10 Best Architectural Projects in China. The Dezeen Awards, organized by the UK design website Dezeen, is an annual design accolade established in 2018. The eighth edition in 2025 received over 4,300 entries from 89 countries, spanning architecture, interior, product design, and sustainable projects, with 53 subcategories including "Architecture Firm of the Year" and "Small Project.".

Which buildings have been shortlisted for "China's Top 10 Best Architectural Projects" this year?

Hangzhou Liangzhu Yuhu Art Museum

©Guo Baoliang

The Hangzhou Liangzhu Yuhu Art Museum is located in the Liangzhu Yuhu Park, with its architecture built along the lakeside. The ingenious use of steel trusses creates a remarkable floating sensation, as if the entire museum gently hovers above the water, engaging in a dialogue with the sky and earth.

The semi-transparent "Jade Glass" curtain wall of the art museum maintains a crystal-clear translucency while blending the warm texture of jade, transforming it into a new cultural living room for the city.

Realistic Scene of 'Jade Sees the Future' © Guo Baoliang

From Chaishan to Huanbian Changting in Zhoushan, Zhejiang

 GN Qicheng Design, Photography by Liang Wenjun

The starting point of the design is to elevate the romantic atmosphere in the simple island life, and to place life and all unpredictable changes from a poetic realism perspective in the changing times.

Poetic and realistic scene construction © GN Qicheng Design, Photography by Liang Wenjun

Chongqing Nanchuan Shishe

A bird's-eye view of the stone houses in the mountains © Existence of buildings

Nanchuan Shishe is located in Nanchuan District, Chongqing, surrounded by mountains. The design aims to create a seemingly contradictory relationship with nature, inspiring visitors to observe and comprehend nature at a deeper level through immersive experiences of moving and changing scenery, ultimately achieving a balance between humans, architecture, and nature. The design team imitates natural elements and textures to blend the architecture with the environment; At the same time, artificial materials such as steel, mirrors, and glass are introduced to highlight the building in a supernatural and anti gravity manner outside the environment, creating a kind of "extraordinary nature".

Shanghai Louis

The world's only "Louis Vuitton" concept landmark will officially set sail at the end of June 2025. This 114.5 meter long and 30 meter high "giant ship" is inspired by Louis Vuitton's 19th-century transoceanic hard boxes, transforming metal Monogram patterns into architectural textures, and the silver anchor shaped device at the bow of the ship becoming the new visual focus of Nanjing Road.

The boat design not only echoes the history of Shanghai's "Oriental Gateway", but also hides mysteries: the curvature of the hull accurately simulates the flow of the Huangpu River, and the splicing method of the metal plates draws on the riveting technology of the old dock. Even the "cable columns" on both sides of the building are made of recycled steel, retaining the original texture of rust stains on the surface.

The adjacent Cha Mansion, as a century old building, has been given a new role in the renovation: the old foundation preserved during its relocation is protected by a glass cover and becomes part of the exhibition area; The carved elements on the exterior walls of the building are abstracted as metal screens inside the "Louis".

The collision of "repairing the old as the old" and "innovating the new" fills the entire space with narrative tension.

Xiamen Jiumu Sanitary Ware Headquarters Building

© Chen Hao

The project was designed by the internationally renowned architectural firm OMA, with the core design concept of "mountain and sea imagery, technological symbiosis". It deeply extracts the unique mountain and sea scenery of Xiamen and the mountainous terrain of Fujian, integrates natural elements with the brand concept of "intelligence, environmental protection, and health" of Jiumu, rejects the rigid form of traditional headquarters buildings, and creates an architectural form with strong sculptural and vitality.

At the level of natural imagery translation, the design team boldly adopts a gradually converging "mountain" shaped contour with a large lower part and a small upper part. From a distance, the mountain ranges are undulating like layers of mountains, and from a distance, they look like towering peaks soaring into the clouds, cleverly echoing the mountainous terrain of Fujian.

In terms of spatial design, the use of columns on the inner side is minimized to achieve flexible and efficient layout of each floor, adapting to diverse office needs.

Maijishan Tourist Service Center

This circular tourist center aims to showcase the historical and cultural heritage of the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mount Maiji. Maijishan is famous for its 1600 year old caves, grottoes, and Buddhist carvings.

Zhu Xiaodi Studio and BIAD incorporated the concept of Buddhist circumnavigation (i.e. walking clockwise around the holy site) into their design, guiding visitors along the tour route with six circular volumes.

These six volumes also symbolize the six cycles of reincarnation in Buddhism, surrounding a pool of water. Each volume is covered with sandstone slabs, echoing the geological features of Maijishan.

Guiyang Ayuyun Warehouse Public Art Space

The 'Ayuyun Warehouse' originates from the Yi language 'Our Ideal Land', carrying the collective sustenance of this land from its starting point. The design team did not view the building as an object detached from the environment, but chose to pay tribute to the depth of Guizhou's mountains and waters - the inspiration for the architectural form came directly from the typical karst cave terrain, undulating mountains, and clear starry sky in the local area.

It abandons the grand monument style construction and reorganizes the relationship between humans and nature, as well as between humans and communities, with a set of scattered "art boxes" in the landscape, making architecture a carrier for continuous dialogue between humans and Guizhou's landscapes and historical memories. This is not only an exhibition hall to watch art, but also an active community to stimulate local creation, youth gathering and thought growth. It is a vivid practice of "ideal place" in contemporary cities.

This project also won the 2025 Dutch FRAMAWAARDS "Excellence Project Popularity Gold Award".

Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art

The Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art is about to undergo trial operation, and has also launched two warm-up exhibitions, "BIG: Materialism" and "Director's Room: Cai Chusheng". It is planned to officially open at the end of June 2026.

The Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art is located on the right bank of Jinji Lake, designed by Danish firm BIG, aiming to benchmark against world-class art and create a high standard art palace that combines academic height, urban warmth, and international perspective.

This new landmark of the city, which grew out of the garden, is formed into an exhibition hall through a ribbon like corridor that connects nine individual buildings, covering multiple functions such as exhibitions, public education, theaters, and commerce, achieving the connection between the city and the waterfront, public art and high luxury commerce.

Guangzhou Greater Bay Area Sports Center

The Greater Bay Area Cultural and Sports Center is located in Nansha District, Guangzhou, and is built by Zaha Hadid The joint design by Hadid Architects and Guangdong Provincial Institute of Architectural Design and Research is inspired by the traditional ship form of Song Dynasty sailboats. The overall planning concept of the project is "welcoming guests from all directions with fans, shining pearls in Kyushu". The three venues are arranged in a C-shaped layout, facing the sea, symbolizing the embrace of the bay area.

Its uniqueness lies in its "breathing" design. The multi-layered folded structure on the roof of the sports stadium not only replicates the aesthetic charm of Chinese folding fans, but also provides natural ventilation and cooling.

Chengdu Pujiang Observation Deck

The upgraded Pujiang platform designed by MvRDV has been officially completed on the eastern hill of Pujiang New City in southwest Chengdu. This landscape building, with arched wooden structure as its core and covered with soil, is not only a tourist destination overlooking the Qionglai Mountains and the new city style, but also a multifunctional venue capable of hosting various events such as weddings and government meetings, achieving a perfect integration of natural landscape and practical functions.